About 2 years ago Aisling spied a wee dream flat that she set her heart on. She put an offer on it which was considered by the agent. Aisling threw herself into Pinterest, creating design themes and imaginarily arranging imaginary furniture. Seeing her at this busy task one day I got excited;
'Oh Ash! Has your offer been accepted??'
'No, no' she said 'but I figure that if i behave as if I own the flat, the universe will make it all fall into place.'
Lovely, positive mental attitude personified. Either that or delusional. I choose to buy into the former.
It was my birthday was on the 4th of September (forward all belated birthday gifts to my secretary). My dad got me a voucher for a place on a short course where I would make a glass bowl. The class takes part in the 'Blue Pod' in Project24, Queens Parade, Bangor.
What is the point in these two separate bits of information? Well this is where they link together. Last week, on friday, my husband and I made an offer on a dream house. On Sunday, in true Clever Aisling positive mental attitude style, I took up my place at the glass fusion course to make a glass bowl for my new (fingers crossed) kitchen.
Project24 is a temporary art project transforming a once derelict space at Bangor's otherwise beautiful sea front. The project contains 6 Pods with studio space for 12 artists.
In the Blue Pod you will find Kenny Devon. A friendly, warm and welcoming man who is passionate about glass in all its forms! The course, costs £25, and is a 2hour session including tuition, materials and the cost of firing.
There was also a mother daughter team taking on the glass bowl making challenge along side me, they were fantastic comany and it was great to watch their creation take shape also.
Kenny welcomed us with a brief but passionate tutorial on the chemisty behind glass making, its history and the health and safety details relating to the activities we would be carrying out that afternoon. He finished with a promise of a cup of tea and a kit kat at the half way point and with the single rule for the day, NO STRESS.
The first stage was choosing the colours and design that you want to do.
Kenny provides a selection of 5 different colours of glass to choose from. Getting started was a bit overwhelming, there are so many possibilities. I settled on a green theme to fit in with my new kitchen.
Kenny continued work on a black and clear themed piece that we all decided either reminded us of a cow or a football. Team mother daughter went all out, deciding to use all the colours.
Here is the beginnings of my glass jigsaw, selecting glass pieces to fit together in a design I was happy with.
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Getting there.... with frequent checks from Kenny to make sure I wasn't leaving too many gaps that would leave the finished product weak.
Reaching the half way point. Here I had completed the outer layer of my bowl. This is the task that takes the bulk of time as it is important to take care to ensure there are as few gaps as possible. This means that the bowl will be strong. Any small gaps I had I decided to fill them with blue glass to give another level of interest, followed by a celebratory cup of tea.
The next stage was to fill in the inner layer of the bowl. My plan was to simply mirror the pattern I had completed on the outer layer. Mother/daughter team went for contrasting colours. During the piecing of the second layer I got told off for turning the bowl in an over zealous way. Kenny had experienced students in his class who had got to this stage but with s sharp jerk has tipped the bowl and lost all their hard work! I was extra careful from then on! As we completed our glass jigsaws we chatted. Kenny told us of his hobby for researching family history and mother/daughter team chatted about their impending house move. They had just got sale agreed on a house and were settling in Bangor. They explained they loved Bangor as it was their first home in Northern Ireland when they moved from Poland. They were making a glass bowl for their new house too! Through chatting, tea drinking and bowl making I did not see the two hours fly in. Before I knew it our session was over.
This is a photo of mother/daughter teams finished product. Isn't it beautiful??? It is ready to be sent to be fired. Kenny takes the bowls to be fired and ready to be collected the next day.
After the two hour session I am hooked!! I want to make more glass creations. Kenny displays many of his pieces in and around the Blue Pod to inspire future projects.
There is the chance to make some of these beautiful and individual christmas tree decorations....
....as well as these unique tealight holders. You could never make the same one twice and so every creation has its own individual charm. Kenny allows all ages to take part from the age of 6 upwards. There is the option of booking a family session for creating christmas goodies.
Interested? Contact this guy.
Kenny Devon at the 'Blue Pod' at Project24, Queens Parade, Bangor.
Email ; kenny@devons.orangehome.co.uk
Phone; 07758374863
Want to see how my bowl turned out?
Isn't it beautiful? I'm so pleased with it. Every time I look at the glass bowl I notice something new about it, the different shades of green that the layering and firing process have created, how it looks different in different lights, the interesting shapes and quirks that have been produced as it has been fired. Obviously it will look even more glorious in its intended place, our new kitchen, in our new house.
This week our offer was accepted on our dream house, it's all still very early days and I continue to keep all my fingers and toes crossed that the path runs smooth. Clever Aisling was outbids in the end by a cash rich developer and she lost her dream flat, but it turns out the universe had much bigger plans for Ash, she is now sunning herself in Mexico living her passion, teaching English, poetry and drama and of course, drinking Mexican beer.
I hope mother/daughter team have a stress free time organising the move to their dream house. I'm sure that their bowl is beautiful and will one day take pride of place in their new home. ( maybe if they stumble across this blog then they could upload a wee photo? )
Let's all raise a beautiful unique glass (bowl) to big dreams!
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